“it’s predominantly a gig, instrumental, music,
but each gig has got something about it...”
Will Sawney talks to Nick Pynn, who
will perform in a double-bill with
Kate Daisy Grant as part of this year’s
Brighton Fringe...
Nick, those who’ve written about
you seem keen to pin things down
to a single summary phrase. What’s
your favourite?
Broadway Baby came up with a lovely
line for what I do; ‘electro acoustic
storytelling’. It’s predominantly a gig,
instrumental, music, but each gig has
got something about it, a meaning.

‘Electro’ and ‘acoustic’ – how do you
match those together?
All the music I perform has been
originally written for an album. On
stage I use looping technology to
re-create the multi-layered sounds.
But I agree with whoever it was that
said ‘looping is the servant not the
master’, I use it to recreate mostly
pre-composed and partly improvised
songs live on stage.
Yet your show at The Old Market
this Tuesday features a number of

performers?
Yes, that’ll be nice for a change! A
whole range of musicians will be
joining me this time, and actually
the entire second half of the show
is Kate Daisy Grant, who’ll be
performing her ‘toy folk pop’ (that’s
the nice phrase about her!) Some
of the band will play both mine and
[continued Page 2...]

BAFTA Award winning actress
Virginia McKenna OBE and star of
films including; Born Free, A Town Like
Alice and the acclaimed Carve Her
Name With Pride, in which Virginia
starred as a female Special Operations
Executive who went behind enemy
lines in Nazi occupied France, attended
a performance of Blonde Poison at
Jermyn Street Theatre earlier this year.

“This is very clever writing on a huge
topic” says the actress, “Gail [Louw]
has written an extremely brilliant
play.” Enamoured with the production,
Virginia is keen to share her experience
of Blonde Poison as it embarks on a
national tour.
“For almost an hour and a half no one
moved or coughed or fidgeted. I cannot
recall ever having a similar experience
as a member of a theatre audience. It
was one actress, Elizabeth Counsell,
alone on stage as Stella Goldschlag; the
‘Blonde Poison’. Bringing to us the dark
and true story of a German Jewess in
Nazi Germany, a victim but also a cruel
betrayer.
Written by Gail Louw, the play is based
on the true story of Jewish woman
Stella Goldschlag who betrayed as
many as 3,000 fellow Jews during
World War ll. The play follows Stella, a
truly complex character, as we piece
together her journey and the role she
embraced working for the Gestapo in
war-torn Berlin.

“A tough story to tell” agrees Virginia,
“but Gail Louw’s marvellous script
brilliantly allowed us moments of
understanding.’’
During her extensive and hugely
successful acting career, Virginia has a
unique insight having played similar
characters herself – most famously the
World War II SOE agent Violette Szabo
in the hit film Carve Her Name With Pride
opposite Paul Scofield; a role which
won her a BAFTA nomination.
Yet whilst many plays have dealt
with World War II, in the story of Stella
Goldschlag and her extraordinary
success as an informer we find a very
different perspective.
“It’s an experience in the theatre and an
experience of an aspect of the War that
is little known and I think it’s important
that as many people as possible go and
see it, try to understand, just enter a
new world for a brief space of time.”
Blonde Poison. 23 & 24 May, 20:00. TOM The Old Market.

[NICK PYNN continued from Cover...]
Kate’s songs. We’re looking forward
to performing at The Old Market in
particular, since it’s newly owned by
Steve McNicholas and Luke Cresswell,
who I’ve known for years and worked
with on The Lost and Found Orchestra.
What else are you up to these days?
I’ve just recorded a new live album at
the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London’s
Southbank Centre. That show was
part of Stewart Lee’s Austerity Binge
comedy tour. Whilst there is a learned
pattern of what works in comedy,
Stewart breaks those boundaries. He’ll
just sit there and let people walk out of
his show without even blinking.
Ah, yes, you’re developing quite
a back-catalogue of comedy
partnerships. What have you

“Omid Djalili’s DVD,
‘Iranian Men’... I won’t
spoil the punchline.”
learned from those?
What I do is not comedy per-se, it’s
a great antidote to comedy. There
are elements of humour, but more
importantly it explores the emotion.
Though I’m sure I’ve added more
talking and more story to my shows.
It’s not just Stewart Lee, I’ve worked
with Rich Hall, Boothby, Simon
Munnery, who’ve all been great. I’ve
also just finished a song recording for
Omid Djalili’s DVD, ‘Iranian Men’’... I
won’t spoil the punchline…
Nick Pynn with Kate Daisy Grant. Tue 15
May, 20:00. TOM - The Old Market.

This newspaper is produced and distributed by TOM - The Old Market.

View This Online: www.theoldmarket.com/paper

interview...

trad jazz pop

The Iron Boot Scrapers play “the pop music
of today on the instruments of yesterday”
What do the Iron Boot Scrapers do?
We play the pop music of today on
the instruments of yesterday.
Which modern song do you think
best translates into the trad jazz
sound?
Shine by Take That. Although I
personally like the tunes that no one
would expect to work; like Metalica’s
Enter the Sandman or Electric 6’s Gay
Bar.
What ‘instrument of yesterday’ is
your favourite?
The sousaphone is the ultimate bass
instrument. We’ve had bass guitar
before but it just didn’t kick off quite
the same as a sousaphone blasting
out a rock and roll bass line.
Where did your interest in trad jazz
come from?
I actually hate trad jazz. Back when
we were a stilt walking band we
needed instruments that were loud
and portable because we couldn’t
carry a PA system. The solution was
to use instruments from before

amplification came in.
If not trad jazz then, what music do
you like?
I like pop music, I like the music we
play. We are hoping to write our own
pop songs soon; that’s the next stage.
On your website you list The Queen
as one of your clients?
We’ve played at festivals where she
has been there. I go with the David
Icke theory that she may be a lizard.
She blinked at us in a very lizard-like
fashion.
Any other interesting gigs?
We’ve played a lunatic asylum before,
oh and we’ve played at the 6th
birthday party for the granddaughter Those dapper daddies, The Iron Boot Scrapers.
of the Dubai royal family.
Did they get all the old England
references; the straw hats and the
mutton chops?
@TOMvenue
Oh we were dressed differently then,
we were dressed as giant insects.
@StillpointUK This is
The Iron Boot Scrapers’ Speakeasy. Wed
our clerk, Mr.Clarke,
16 May, 20:00. TOM - The Old Market.
who welcomes you
at The Department of
Unreliable Memoirs @
TOMvenue

book show live
broadcast

@RichieLittle @clickclickjim @lomokev
@TOMVenue- Good one Jim... you are
starting to look pretty comfortable
up there on the stage with a microphone...! [re: Miniclick 09-05-12, ed.]
@TheBOGproject Have you been to @
TOMvenue yet this @brightonfringe
- check out this “floater” :-) pic.twitter.
com/HM25qHNr

Left: Setting the stage for The Book Show.
Above: Presenter Mariella Frostrup.

This Saturday Sky Arts will film two live episodes of The Book Show as part of
Brighton Festival. The show, hosted by Mariella Frostrup [pictured above] and
featuring a number of prestigious literary guests, will be filmed in front of a sellout crowd at The Old Market this weekend and broadcast soon after.

TOM's Festival & Fringe Newspaper - Issue 03 - Friday 11 May 2012

Throughout May 2012 Brighton Festival & Brighton Fringe, TOM will be publishing this online newspaper, available in print (at TOM - The Old Market, Hove) and online. This, the third, features Nick Pynn, Kate Daisy Grant, Blonde Poison, The Book Show (Sky Arts) and The Iron Boot Scrapers